Is Consistency Actually Bad For You?

If you’re like 95% of working people out there, your workday is pretty typical. You know what to expect. You know what your job is, what you might have to do, and it’s to a large extent predictable. My question for you is: Is that a good thing?Let’s hear both sides of the argument.

Side 1: Yes! Consistency is Great!It’s critical for your business’s success that you know what you need to do and what processes your company follows. If you don’t know what you need to do, then you won’t do it, and your business risks failure. Similarly, it’s extremely important to have set processes and routines. If you don’t know what yours are, now’s the time to think about it and get some structure set up. Here are some of the benefits of consistency:

Predictability means that you have a framework for your work.

It gives you clear measure of success.

It keeps you focused.

Side 2: No! Consistency is Limiting!As I speak with my clients to find out what’s going on in their workflow, I hear and see a lot of the problems that they don’t even know about, but which I, as an outsider, can see. The biggest problem with having processes is that people are used to them, and if you’re used to something, you don’t think about if it makes any sense. You just do it. But here are some of the problems:

When you don’t try anything new, you can’t change.

You can’t do anything better if you don’t think about it.

Consistency removes the focus on growth.

When you’re deeply involved in something, you can’t see what’s wrong with it.

Want to know my thoughts? I’m all for routine – but with a caveat. It’s critical to take periodic vacations, shake things up a little, try something new, step away from everything for a few days, or bring in someone with an outside perspective.

Take the steps to make sure you don’t fall into the trap of being too consistent. Once you build a system that protects you from the dangers of consistency, you’ll have an excellent method of making your routine work for you, not against you.​Feel free to reach out (denglander@workstreamsystems.com) if you want to talk about your business’s routine.